Proclaimer Blog

The horse and its rider

After the rigours of EMA, Carolyn and I cycled up to the British Museum on Saturday to see the exhibition about the Horse in human history. It was, like all British Museum exhibitions, superbly presented with an excellent audio guide. For me the most fascinating thing was to see just how vital the horse has been to the projection of power in most of human history.

The exhibition begins with a beautifully inlaid wooden box dating from about 4600BC, from Ur (as in Abraham’s original city, only two and a half millennia before him). It included a wonderful series of four scenes of a chariot pulled by donkeys or asses (since horses had not yet come into use), going at increasing speed from left to right (to portray movement) and trampling over enemies. From then, right up to the nineteenth century (and even the start of the twentieth), the ability to ride and to fight on horseback was a potent symbol of the ability to project power. Whether it be the armoured horsemen of the Sasanian/Persian empire or the knights of Medieval Europe, these men were like the fighter pilots or captains of nuclear-armed submarines of their day.

But I was also interested to note what seems to me a significant omission. There was no mention of the bible’s perspective on ‘the horse and its rider’, which is that God has cast them into the sea (Exodus 15). From Egypt at the time of the Exodus, through to Assyria at the time of Hezekiah, and beyond, the bible mocks reliance on ‘the horse and its rider’ and exhorts us to trust in God alone. I would love to have seen some mention of this counter-cultural theme.

Proclaimer Blog

Prepared for death?

Had one of "those" phone calls on Sunday afternoon to tell me that a dear saint who had served as a missionary in Brazil for 40 years had been called to glory. She was elderly, blind and is now in a place which is "better by far." She was very dear to me, so the news of her death was saddening.

I remember Don Carson addressing a small fraternal I was at a few years ago telling us that the pastor's job was to prepare people for death. There's a lot of truth in that. But I want to extend it a little. After all, we must not "grieve as the rest of mankind who have no hope" (1 Thess 5.13). I wonder if we could define a pastor's job thus: "preparing people for their death, and the death of others." For the truth is that many Christians are unprepared for death – by which I mean the death of others. We are more influenced than we care to admit about the heart struggles that we go through when a loved one dies. We don't know how to think about the future properly, nor what it means to grieve with hope.

Perhaps we need to add that to the job description? How well prepared are your people for other people's death?

Proclaimer Blog

Radio 4 programme on women bishops

Interesting programme on Radio 4 yesterday including a very high quality section with Andrea Trevenna from St Nicholas' Sevenoaks. Listen here. Go to 16:38 if you want to skip context and go straight to her part. She's very strong on the authority of Scripture. She pretty much was the only person interviewed who mentioned the Bible.

Proclaimer Blog

EMA 2013

Yes, it's only just finished, but here's news of the next Evangelical Ministry Assembly. We're moving, as you probably know, to the Barbican, which will allow for many more people to come. And our theme is driven by 1 Peter: Faithful – living and preaching in an alien world. We think it's a key issue. Here's the trailer. Pass it on and book the dates.

Proclaimer Blog

A call to empathy

Here's an email from a dear brother in Nigeria who's had to cancel his EMA trip because of the situation at home. I've anonymised the letter, but you'll get the main thrust.

My Dear Brothers, Its a pity that I am not able to make it to the EMA this year as planned. This is because of the following reasons: 1. Last Sunday, two Churches were bombed in Zaria. and one Church was bombed in Kaduna all in the same state. As a result so many lives were lost and violence broke out with more people killed. 2. The government therefore imposed a 24hrs curfew immediately. They tried to relax it on Tuesday and more killings happened so they re-imposed the 24hrs curfew. They relaxed it on Friday just for Muslims to go to the mosque. And they relaxed the curfew today Sunday just for the Christians to go to the Church. We worshiped today under armed mobile police guard. WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS BECAUSE WE ARE AT RISK DAILY.

"Continue to remember…those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering" says the writer to the Hebrews (Heb 13.3). Just think about what he's saying there. "Continue to remember…." OK, I can do that. But "as if you yourselves were suffering?" The Scriptures call me to empathy, not just sympathy. They call me to put myself in my brothers shoes and to let that shape my memory and praying. This is a hard calling, and I'm not sure one we take all that seriously. It's rare enough to find Christians concerned for those around the world who are suffering, let alone putting themselves in their shoes.

How does one go about this? I'm not sure I know. I sat down with this email this week (the original is a bit longer) and read and re-read it. I tried to let it sink in (there's family news too about how the troubles have temporarily split this family apart). I tried to imagine my own family spit apart by a curfew. I tried to imagine my own church members laid out on a slab following a bomb attack. I tried to imagine preaching to a frightened, angry congregation. What would they have made of last Sunday's sermon. As I did this, I felt tears well up.

I think that may be as near as I can get to the Hebrews injunction for now. It is a good discipline though. One that moved me and got me thinking about the church Jesus loved more broadly. It made me thankful for the freedom I do enjoy. It helped me "continue to remember…."

Proclaimer Blog

EMA internationals

One of the joys of Thursdays at the EMA is our international reception. Sadly this year there will some missing (those who couldn't get visas, and some others from Nigeria who feel it is a bad time to be leaving their churches at the moment). Nevertheless, it is always great to meet folk from around the world who make the EMA part of their programme. Sometimes they are overseas missionaries who are brought back by their churches so that they can benefit from the spiritual food that the EMA provides.

It's a humbling time. Many of these brothers and sisters know in greater and sharper clarity what it means to take up their crosses daily. Few have the resources available to us, so we try to give them some good deals in the bookshop.

But they all have something in common. They love Bible preaching. They see this as the God appointed means for growing his church. For some, such preaching is decidedly counter cultural, even within evangelical circles. Others face different temptations, but temptations to neglect preaching nonetheless. Yet they want to invest in learning to preach and in keeping going in preaching. We've definitely something to learn….

Proclaimer Blog

And here’s one of me with Paul….

As the EMA nears (and for us, it's already started), here's my plea. Let's fight against the celebrity culture. We've got some good speakers whom we've invited because they're, well, good speakers. Not because they're celebrities. So leave your cameras at home. Pictures with the speaker? What's that about? And for those who are feeling a little righteous and smug, can I suggest there is a bit of celebrity chasing in all of us. It may not be the speakers, it may be the pastor of this big church, the director of that useful ministry, the author of that book. What I mean is, all of us need to guard our own hearts against such hero worship at such events. One of the great things about the EMA is that, though we reserve seats for speakers so that they don't have to stand (that's just polite), we don't coral them off in a special gated area. So, yes, you may find yourself sitting next to someone whose ministry God has blessed. But guess what, he's just a delegate like you, just a servant like you, just as in need of the gospel as you. And the EMA exists to serve us all. So please do pray for tomorrow and the next three days. Pray for usefulness, pray for hearts to be encouraged and challenged, pray for us all to be stirred, pray for equipping for the task to which God has called us. And fight with us the celebrity culture.